WMO says extreme weather caused 2 million deaths, cost $4 trillion in past 50 years

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau 

UNITED NATIONS, 23rd May. World Meteorological Organization on Monday said that over 2 million deaths and $4.3 trillion in economic losses; that’s the impact of a half-century of extreme weather events turbo-charged by man-made global warming.

According to WMO, weather, climate and water-related hazards caused close to 12,000 disasters between 1970 and 2021.

The agency noted that developing countries were hit hardest, seeing nine in 10 deaths and 60 per cent of economic losses from climate shocks and extreme weather.

WMO said that Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States suffered a “disproportionately” high cost in relation to the size of their economies.

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said “The most vulnerable communities unfortunately bear the brunt of weather, climate and water-related hazards,”.

The agency reported that in Least Developed Countries, several disasters over the past half-century had caused economic losses of up to 30 per cent of GDP.

It said in Small Island Developing States, one in five disasters had an impact “equivalent to more than five per cent” of GDP, with some disasters wiping out countries’ entire GDP.

WMO noted that Asia saw the highest death toll due to extreme weather, climate and water-related events over the past 50 years, with close to one million deaths – more than half in Bangladesh.

In Africa, WMO said that droughts accounted for 95 per cent of the reported 733,585 climate disaster deaths.

It stressed that improved early warnings and coordinated disaster management have helped mitigate the deadly impact of disasters. “Early warnings save lives,” Mr. Taalas insisted.

The agency noted that recorded deaths for 2020 and 2021 were lower than the previous decade’s average.

Mr. Taalas pointed out that severe cyclonic storm Mocha, which caused devastation in Myanmar’s and Bangladesh’s coastal areas and hit “the poorest of the poor”, he recalled that similar weather disasters in the past caused “death tolls of tens and even hundreds of thousands” in both countries.

“Thanks to early warnings and disaster management these catastrophic mortality rates are now thankfully history,” Mr. Taalas said.

The agency had shown that notice prior to an impending weather hazard can cut the ensuing damage by 30 per cent, calling early warnings the “low-hanging fruit” of climate change adaptation because of their tenfold return on investment.

WMO issued its new findings on the human and economic cost of weather-induced disasters for its quadrennial World Meteorological Congress, which opened on Monday in Geneva with a focus on implementing the UN’s Early Warnings for All initiative.

The initiative is to ensure that early warning services reach everyone on Earth by the end of 2027.

It was launched at the COP27 climate change conference last year.

The agency said that half of the world is covered by early warning systems, with Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries left far behind.

Mr. Guterres brought partners to fast-track the Early Warnings for All initiative into action.

WHO added that first set of 30 at-risk countries half of them in Africa have been identified for the roll-out of the initiative in 2023.